Finagle's Law
 n.

    The generalized or ?folk? version of Murphy's Law, fully named ?Finagle's
    Law of Dynamic Negatives? and usually rendered ?Anything that can go wrong,
    will?. May have been first published by Francis P. Chisholm in his 1963
    essay The Chisholm Effect, later reprinted in the classic anthology A
    Stress Analysis Of A Strapless Evening Gown: And Other Essays For A
    Scientific Eye (Robert Baker ed, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-852608-7).

    The label ?Finagle's Law? was popularized by SF author Larry Niven in
    several stories depicting a frontier culture of asteroid miners; this
    ?Belter? culture professed a religion and/or running joke involving the
    worship of the dread god Finagle and his mad prophet Murphy. Some technical
    and scientific cultures (e.g., paleontologists) know it under the name
    Sod's Law; this usage may be more common in Great Britain. One variant
    favored among hackers is ?The perversity of the Universe tends towards a
    maximum?; Niven specifically referred to this as O'Toole's Corollary of
    Finagle's Law. See also Hanlon's Razor.

Finagle's Law

    The generalised or "folk" version of Murphy's Law,
   fully named "Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives" and usually
   rendered "Anything that can go wrong, will".  One variant
   favoured among hackers is "The perversity of the Universe
   tends toward a maximum".

   The label "Finagle's Law" was popularised by SF author Larry
   Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of
   asteroid miners; this "Belter" culture professed a religion
   and/or running joke involving the worship of the dread god
   Finagle and his mad prophet Murphy.

   [Jargon File]

   (1995-12-14)